"Having already spent two years at Ford, from 2007 to 2009, Casper is well placed to integrate seamlessly into the team and lead the company forward into a new era of growth and opportunity," the Blue Oval said in a statement released on Tuesday evening.
A former lecturer in marketing at UNISA and head of Toyota's Hino Trucks division for five years, Kruger will assist and oversee Ford's business operations in Sub-Sahara Africa and South Africa in place of Nemeth, who has been recalled to the United States to take up a new unnamed position within Ford from July first.
Nemeth, who has faced wide-scale criticism over his and Ford's handling of the burning Kuga saga, has meanwhile ruled out that his return to the States had anything to do with the recall of 4 556 Kuga 1.6 EcoBoosts earlier this year, telling the Times in an interview that his contract was due to expire in June after a seven-year run as Ford South Africa boss.
"During Jeff's tenure, he led the team through the launch of the global export programme for the locally built Ford Ranger and, more recently, local production of the Everest. Both the Silverton Assembly Plant in Pretoria and the Struandale Engine Plant in Port Elizabeth were expanded with multi-billion rand investments and are running at record capacities," Ford Middle East and Africa President, Jacques Brent, said.
"Casper's extensive experience and expertise in sales and marketing, together with his deep experience in working closely with dealers and their customers, will be a great asset in strengthening our retail business in the region with the exceptional range of current products we offer, bolstered by the addition of several exciting new models in the coming years".
